* From left to right: The Director General of ACI, Mrs. Angela Gittens, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation(SGF),Mr. Boss Mustapha and the Managing Director of FAAN, Engr. Saleh Dunoma at the 59th ACI Africa conference in Lagos

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha said that new strategies must be developed for the continent to achieve sustainable development of African airports.

This is just as he attributed the approval given by President Muhammadu Buhari for Nigeria to host the 59^thAirport Council International (ACI) to the sector’s contribution to the economy and also for facilitating movement of over 7.6 billion passengers in 2017.

He stated this while declaring the 59^thACI Board and Committees Meetings and Regional Conference and Exhibition open in Lagos , Nigeria.

New strategies, he argued must be developed to achieve sustainable development of African airports.

The strategies as he listed to include: holistic planning for defined development targets, effective and efficient financing plan and successful implementation.

All these, he said would be complemented by a reliable legal, institutional and regulatory framework to institutionalise policy.

The SGF added that the importance of aviation as a critical tool for social and economic development cannot be over emphasised, considering its potential for immense contributions to the broader economy.

According to him, “In 2017, the sector facilitated the movement of over 7.6 billion passengers,109 million tons of cargo and recorded 89 million aircraft movements. With a highly mobile population of 180 million people, these explain the importance Nigeria attaches to the sector and the reason why Mr. President readily approved the hosting of the event.

Boss stated that the theme of the conference, “Business Transformation for Sustainable Development of African Airports” was most appropriate, coming at a time most African countries including Nigeria, are intensifying efforts to improve aviation infrastructure to boost the continent’s economic development.

He opined that though these efforts have over the years significantly improved the state of aviation infrastructure in the continent, African States nonetheless still need to upgrade facilities, improve operations, service quality, security and airspace safety.

The core objective of ACI as the voice of the world’s airports, he said makes the association a ready partner of member states numbering 176 countries with 1,940 airports.

He added that its role as a veritable platform for the development of best practices in airports management, professionalism and key driver of policies in the aviation industry since 1991, gives the association a pride of place amongst associations in the global aviation industry.

To transform aviation business in Africa, Boss argued that countries would be expected to continue to attain and maintain global safety standards, strive to achieve competitiveness and user friendliness and install infrastructure and navigational aids to maximise aircraft utilization for ‘ passenger and cargo movement;

Other things African countries should do to take aviation business to the next level include achieving costs competitiveness, develop integrated multi-modal transport system around the airports and diversify revenue lines.

The SGF pointed out that in Nigeria, majority of the airport infrastructure are government-owned, adding that this administration has continued to promote infrastructural development, facilities renewal and the implementation of policies aimed at facilitating the growth and sustainability of the sector.

To buttress his points, he mention some of the key events and projects undertaken by the Federal Government to achieve its objectives.

They include: hosting the lnternational World Aviation Forum (IWA) in Abuja, certification of two of the nation’s key airports namely; Murtala Muhammed lntemational Airport(MMIA) Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport(NAIA) Abuja, construction of five new intemational terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu to expand passenger handling capacity to 15 million annually among others.